Emery is waiting for me in the hallway when I come back inside.
“You can go back to your room now,” I tell her cruelly. “I’m done with you.”
Either she doesn’t get the hint or she chooses to ignore it. “Thank you,” she says instead. “For saying what you said. About Isabella. That was… It was really kind.”
“I didn’t say it to be kind.”
I walk past her, and she falls into step next to me. She has to hurry to keep up in her heels. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t.”
My father thinks she will be good for me? He thinks this will be good for me? Being hounded when all I need is a fucking moment of peace?
I round on her, stopping her in her tracks. “Stop looking for—”
“Stop looking for anything good in me,” she says, her voice laughably deep. “I get it. God knows you’ve said it enough. And believe me, I’m not trying to. But when people stand up for my daughter, I’m grateful. So I’m thanking you. Do with that as you please.”
“Are we done now?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Are we? Did your father like me or do you have to go find another fake fiancée?”
Emery doesn’t mean anything by it, but her words bring Sofia back to the forefront of my mind.
My father just admitted he’d been wrong about her. He thought Sofia was the right match. That she would meld seamlessly into our world.
And then… she didn’t.
Emery will be the same way. Which is why this fake marriage will end at the earliest possible convenience.
I’m not putting my Bratva at risk for a woman ever again.